Melyssa-with-a-Y

Bright, sunny Saturday, so I decide to move some boxes to the new house. And, my friend John comes to meet me so he can give me a quote on some minor repairs. We go out into the back yard, and what happens? Door locks automatically! Yep, that's right -- I got locked out of my new house on the first day! Fotunately, John had his phone, so we called a locksmith. One hour and $90 later, I'm back inside. sheeesh!

I loooove Rachel's yogurt, so I stopped to check out the sign @ Whole Foods - and then I did the math. 4 for $5 means each one is $1.25, right? (fortunately, they're on sale for $0.79 at HEB this week... ) If you can read it, in the corner it says reg price $1.19 - you *save* 6 cents. um.... no. Maybe I should tell the manager? :)

Finally, someone who both believes in Gd and understands evolution! A Baptist blogger has written a nice piece about why religion and evolution do not have to be mutually exclusive. I'm not sure I agree with him 100%, but at least he makes the case for open-mindedness. All I have to say is, Thank you! I'm pleased to see that rational thought exists somewhere in this country! For another view on evolution vs. creationism, see this Family Guy clip . :)

but you'll notice the Bush Countdown Clock is GONE from the sidebar! He's GONE! :) hoooray!

He's at it again -- already! Just one week after reinstating a Holocaust-denying Bishop (and then releasing a statement about how we must all work together to make sure the Shoah doesn't happen again) , the Pope has now elevated to Bishop an Austrian priest who says that the Harry Potter books are spreading Satanism, and that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans to wipe out the hedonism (and the abortion clinics) there. If there's one thing that was drummed into me as a child, it was "Question Authority." Please tell me there are Catholics in the world who don't agree with this man? ... Who have more sense than this? ... Who, even though it might be sacrilegious, are willing to question the authority of the Pope to do these things? Yikes.

@ Momo's - right at the stage! :)

On the anniversary of the day that the Soviet army liberated Auschwitz in 1945 (see video below), I was treated to a story on NPR this morning about the Bishop that was "un-excommunicated" by the Pope this week. Bishop Richard Williamson has been -- recently, not just in the past -- quoted as saying there's no historical evidence that 6 million Jews died in WWII. Bishop Williamson, who has said that the Vatican is controlled by Satan and that the Jews are bent on world domination, reiterated in a broadcast last week on Swedish television that the historical evidence was “hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler. I believe there were no gas chambers”. I'm sorry, WHAT?!? and he gets to be a Bishop in the Catholic Church? The way the current pope is reversing Vatican II, I'd say the "heretics" in Europe had better watch out - the Spanish Inquisition may be poised for a comeback! But...

This afternoon, I did seven interviews with Canadian Broadcasting Corp stations all over Canada - from British Columbia to Saskatchewan to Manitoba to Ontario to New Brunswick to Yukon ( not geographically in any particular order ). They asked me questions about collecting political memorabilia -- how I got started, why people collect, what's valuable, and what's out there for Obama. I talked about my flasher collection , Cox-Roosevelt buttons , and the Obama Chapter of the APIC. The station in Victoria, BC (6th go-round) sent me an MP3 recording of the interview. I've asked for recordings of the other ones, but I actually think this one was the best. One of the producers I spoke with likened the experience to "Groundhog Day", and she was right! The station in New Brunswick also offered to send me a bobblehead doll of one of the DJs. :) If I can figure out how to post it here, I will. Otherwise, if you want to hear it, email me and I'll send you the 6MB ...

...but the "We Are One" concert is on, and it's amazing! 1:30pm (CST) Starting with Copeland's Fanfare for the Common Man was genius - it was symbolic, as an announcement of a new beginning. It's one of my favorite pieces. I was in tears almost immediately. (starting to regret staying in Austin for the weekend...) Watching the Obama girls see themselves on tv was so cute! (Sasha made her mother move out of the way!) 1:40pm Bruce. Wow. The newscasters kept saying that the musicians weren't going to be singing their own music, but singing "The Rising" with a huge choir in the background was fabulous. 1:50pm Hmm... maybe Mary J. Blige should have worn something other than white/off-white so she'd stand out a little more against the steps? Oh well. Lean On Me, another great uplifting song. You go Mary J! and Michelle is singing along! :) [and, not having saved this post often enough, my Firefox crashed and I lost almost an hour's worth of comme...

For your reading pleasure (or discomfort, in this case), here's a post detailing the various actions going on in other parts of Israel, instigated by the same Arab countries who won't admit to directly helping Hamas, and won't help the Palestinian civilians in Gaza. If you are inclined to 'poo poo' the seriousness of these attacks or downplay their impact on Israeli morale, just think back to 2002 when the 'Beltway Sniper' was able to terrorize the entire eastern seaboard of the United states into immobility with nothing more than a hunting rifle and an old Chevy Caprice. Also, with Israel at war on one front, just how much restraint are we really expected to practice with all the other belligerents in the neighborhood? A fair question, I think. Americans have never been exposed to this kind of constant barrage -- Beltway Sniper notwithstanding -- he could only fire in one place at a time. How can we be expected to understand the mentality of the Israeli ...

I went to the nutritionist tonight for a "check-up" -- this is the same woman who put me on a mostly-organic diet in January 2008, and with whose help I lost about 15 lbs last year. We talked about what I've been eating, which has been far more sensible since I've been back from DC. I showed her my last 10 days of Weight Watchers food tracking. Other than the fact that it is sorely lacking in vegetables, it looked pretty good. But then she did the math, and apparently I'm not getting enough calories! The way WW does things, I get to eat food that adds up to 25 points per day (a point is 60 calories or 6 grams of fat), plus an extra 35 pts to use throughout the week. Ergo, 25 x 60 = 1500 calories. And if you evenly split the 'extra' pts, that's an extra 300 calories per day. But I hardly use those - the program makes it sound like those are for "emergencies" only. But according to the tests that Nancy did last year when I signed up for ...

Yet another "about me" list that I've stolen from Phyl : The things I have done are in bold. 1. Started my own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than I can afford to charity 7. B een to Disneyland/world 8. Climbed a mountain (Not sure if hiking counts but it was a moutain) 10. Sung a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched lightening at sea 14. Taught myself art from scratch (does knitting count?) 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown my own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitchhiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29 . Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Fa...

I have (until now) refrained from posting any rants here about the situation in Gaza -- how Hamas is getting their own people killed; Israel's right to defend herself... etc. I mean, seriously, if crazies in Cuba or Mexico or Canada were indiscriminately dropping rockets on New York or Miami or Houston -- TRYING to kill civilians -- wouldn't we fight back? Damn right we would! But now apparently all Jewish children are targets , no matter where we live -- as Jeffrey Goldberg points out on his blog: Put aside Zahar's chutzpah -- Hamas has been happily killing Jewish children for years. What's important is that he is making an explicit plea to jihadists everywhere to take matters into their own hands and kill Jews. Any Jewish school or synagogue or JCC anywhere in the world that doesn't take this seriously is beyond negligent. This is not a time for panic, just preparation. But if you read further down in that article, French President Sarkozy points out that the m...

It's 2009! How did that happen? 2008 was a fun year, and I can only wonder at what 2009 holds for all of us. Hope y'all have a happy, healthy year, full of pleasant surprises. :) And now, for a trip down memory lane: I found this on Phyl's blog , and I love it! IF YOU WERE A LITTLE GIRL IN THE 70'S... 1. You had that Fisher Price Doctor's Kit with a stethoscope that actually worked. Hmmm. Don't remember this. 2 You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a plastic basket with flowers on it. Uhhh, Nope. I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 13. By then, it was the mid-80's. 3. You learned to skate with actual skates (not roller blades) that had metal wheels. Oh yes, and skated through some dogsh*t the first time my dad took me out on them. 4 You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute (admit it!) Sigh. ok, I admit it. 5. You had nightmares after watching Fantasy Island. EEEK!! I thought Scooby Doo was too scary. I didn't even watch Fantasy Isla...

The bleachers are being erected on Pennsylvania Ave! Fewer seats than last time, tho, to allow for more standing room. (since there probably going to be fewer protesters, too... ) ;)

The Pope today told senior Vatican staff that saving the world from homosexuals and transsexuals is as important as saving the rainforest . Oy. So he's equating human industrialization encroaching on the rainforest with homosexuals "encroaching" on straight people's lives? Riiight, because every time we hang out with Aubrey, he's trying to make us gay. [Ok, so I've been to more gay bars than "straight" bars in the last month. That's definitely Aubrey's fault.] This, in addition to the furor over Pastor Rick Warren being chosen to give the invocation at President-Elect Obama's Inauguration -- a man who has said that homosexuality is akin to pedophilia. Having just seen ' Milk ' [Go see it! right away!] , I'm keenly aware that just being out was (and still is) a challenge. The last thing we need is to add fuel to the fire of the people who actually *believe* these things. I am against discrimination of any kind, for a...

to put the shoppers in the holiday spirit, the mall has little blowers showering us with 'snow' ... lovely.

Sorry, I've been busy! Here's some fun stuff to tide you over til I can post properly about what the quack in the White House -- sorry, I mean the Lame Duck President -- is doing in his last 30 days. Let's start with last Saturday's supper club. Every year we cook dinner for the Ronald McDonald house, on the same night that we have our December supper club event. This year, we decided to make a Mexican-themed meal for RMcD. I tried to make Mole' Brownies , from a recipe from Texas Monthly. They just didn't cook. I ended up with a rather tasty, spicy-cinnamony-chocolate mush. (Which tasted very good with vanilla ice cream... but wasn't what I was looking for.) On to plan B. Purchase 2 boxes of brownie mix -- add cinnamon and ancho chile powder to one of them, to simulate Mole' -- and two disposable brownie pans. Much better results. The challenge was that I was also making SK's homemade hostess cake , and Rachael Ray's chicken-feta meatballs ...

Sigh. Another year, another Rose Bowl . (don't I sound ungrateful?!) After beating the Bruins in their home stadium (which is in fact the Rose Bowl) a respectable 28-7, and with Oregon beating Oregon State, USC was awarded the traditional Pac-10 berth at the Rose Bowl game on January 1. Four years running. It's not quite the national championship... The sports writers are not terribly excited about this one, given how well USC did against Ohio State, but we'll see. I'm still hoping for a good game! (and I love the countdown clock on the Rose Bowl website!) But the funniest news from the day had to be the ad that UCLA put in the LA Times, with Coach Neuheisel, with the headline 'The football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially over.'" Um. Not so much. The USC folks took that and made a t-shirt with the same text, except it says, "The football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially over THERE" (in cardinal and gold, of course). :) You can get...